Powell family double up in Lotus Elan
SILVERSTONE CSCC 4-5 MAY
Father-and-son teams won four of the five races on Saturday as the Classic Sports Car Club filled Silverstone’s International Circuit with a 370-strong entry.
Top guns were Caterham regulars Nick and Eddie Powell, who made hay in the Swinging Sixties and Classic K events in their pristine John Danby Racingprepared Lotus Elan ‘26R’.
The Powells put the transmission failures of Snetterton behind them with consummate victories from pole. Son
Eddie started both races cautiously then, once in a rhythm, quickly picked his way to the front and relayed his father.
With little to choose between their pace, rivals found no chinks in the Powells’ armour, and therefore floundered. Jamie Keevill started his hot Elan second for the Swinging Sixties Group 1 encounter, but abandoned the chase when its gearbox broke just before the mandatory stop.
Early leaders Malcolm Johnson (Lotus Europa) and Nick King (Aston Martin DB4) wound up second and third, ahead of
Ray Barrow’s well-driven Chevrolet
Camaro. Allen Tice (Marcos-volvo 1800GT) and US visitor Paul Tooms (Elan) shot ahead of Powell Jr in Classic K, but
Eddie blew past on lap three and hurtled clear. Powell Sr continued his good work, outrunning welcome racing returnee Dave Methley in Peter Thompson’s
Marcos and Tice/chris Conoley.
Driving their trusty MGA, Historic Formula Junior and F3 racer Steve Smith and son Jack aced Swinging Sixties Group 2, which finished under yellow flags.
A two-lap penalty for stopping moments after the pit window closed cost duellist
Ian Staines (MG Midget) second, handing silver to Richard Merrell’s rorty Alfa
Romeo Giulia Sprint GT.
Aston and Tony Blake (Porsche
911 RSR) overcame their 30-second Snetterton winners’ penalty to win
Future Classics, beating Tim Bates’s striking Brumos homage 911 SC and
Mazda Rx7-mounted Trevor and
Alex Taylor. Chas Mallard (Camaro) shaded feisty Geoff Beale (Talbot
Sunbeam Lotus) for fourth.
Andrew Presswell in the lone Vauxhall staved off the smoky VW Polo of Charlie Dark/jay Dalgarno in the growing Turbo Tin Tops category, which drew 18 starters.
Sunday’s huge ‘atmo’ Tin Tops arena was the domain of Martin Addison, whose Peugeot was a breathless 4.5s clear of fast-closing pole qualifier
Andrew Windmill (Honda Civic
Type R) at the chequered flag. The
Field clan’s Proton was third.
Day two had opened with the New Millennium grid, from which the Lotus Exige V6 Cup cars of James Little and Chris Griffin emerged on top. Stephen Scottdunwoodie (BMW E46 M3) and Peter Challis (Porsche 997 Cup) led the chase. Youngster Harry Woodhead and his supercharged Lotus Exige GT3 led impressively to the stops, whereupon the 30-second penalty for Snetterton’s triumph left him a lapped seventh.
Charlie Jackson sizzled his Ford Escort Cosworth from row three to lead the Modern Classics race by Abbey, but finished a gallant third after the turbocar started to ail. A faultless performance from David Marcussen (BMW M3 E36) earned a comfortable victory, from Dan Williamson (Porsche 911).
Snetterton Magnificent Sevens winner Stephen Nuttall’s five-place grid drop barely hindered the top qualifier, for he led by the first corner and dropped Tim Davis and Christian Pittard over 40 minutes. Nuttall didn’t participate in the sprint race, leaving Davis to shrug off Pittard.